分类： health

ST JAMES, Jamaica — Ahead of a formal signing ceremony scheduled for 11:30 a.m. this Friday, Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness Dr. Christopher Tufton has announced details of a new, comprehensive accountability framework aimed at tackling deep-rooted challenges in the country’s public health system. All four of Jamaica’s regional health authorities are set to put their signatures to the policy, which targets long-running administrative inefficiencies and procurement delays that have hampered service delivery for years.

In a landmark achievement for Jamaica’s public healthcare system, Mandeville Regional Hospital (MRH), located in the country’s Manchester parish, has recorded a historic first: the nation’s inaugural scar-free minimally invasive gynecological surgery using the cutting-edge Vaginal Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (vNOTES) technique. The groundbreaking milestone was achieved during a three-day targeted surgical outreach held between June 9 and 11, 2026, forged through a partnership between local MRH clinicians and volunteer specialist surgeons from the Jamaica Awareness Association of California (JAAC), a U.S.-based nonprofit that runs annual capacity-building medical missions across the island.

Unlike traditional gynecological and abdominal procedures that require external incisions through the abdominal wall, vNOTES enables surgical teams to complete operations entirely through the vaginal canal, using specialized miniature instruments and a high-definition endoscopic camera. This approach eliminates any visible external scarring, reduces post-operative pain, cuts down on recovery time, and lowers the risk of post-surgical infection, making it a transformative option for Jamaican patients.

Over the course of the mission, the combined U.S.-Jamaican clinical team successfully completed 21 complex advanced procedures spanning multiple surgical specialties. These procedures included three variations of advanced laparoscopic hernia repair (Transabdominal Preperitoneal, Totally Extraperitoneal, and Intraperitoneal Onlay Mesh), laparoscopic gallbladder removals, and a range of minimally invasive gynecological surgeries — including hysterectomies, bilateral salpingectomies, and ovarian cyst excisions, with the gynecological cases marking the first vNOTES applications in the country.

Dr. Ashok Kotagiri, Senior Resident in MRH’s Department of Surgery, emphasized that the procedures completed during the mission represented a step up in complexity from the standard operations regularly performed at the facility. “Even in the United States and across Europe, not all practicing gynecologists have the specialized training and skills required to perform this type of advanced laparoscopic gynecological surgery,” Kotagiri noted. “We are incredibly proud that our team at MRH is the first in Jamaica to master and deploy this technique.”

Dr. Sharon Shiraga, Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Southern California and a long-serving volunteer physician with JAAC, explained that the annual mission’s core goals extend far beyond direct patient care: its central mission is to build long-term local capacity through hands-on, mentorship-driven training for Jamaican clinicians. “We’re here to help our local colleagues sharpen their laparoscopy skills across a range of advanced procedures, from hernia repairs to gallbladder surgeries and beyond,” Shiraga explained. She highlighted a standout moment from the mission, where a junior resident successfully led a complex procedure with guided mentorship from the volunteer team, noting that the immersive experience helped local clinicians build confidence in their ability to independently perform advanced techniques moving forward.

For Dr. Toshikah Wheatley-Williams, Senior Resident in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at MRH, the introduction of vNOTES represents nothing less than a paradigm shift for women’s healthcare in Jamaica. “This is going to be a total game changer for our patients,” she said. “Beyond the inherent benefits of minimally invasive surgery, women will be able to return to their daily lives, work, and family responsibilities far faster than with traditional open or even standard laparoscopic procedures.”

In addition to training and clinical work, the JAAC team made a substantial material contribution to expanding MRH’s care capacity, donating specialized laparoscopic and surgical supplies valued at approximately 5 million Jamaican dollars. The donated equipment and consumables will enable the hospital to continue offering advanced procedures to low-income patients who would otherwise be unable to afford the specialized supplies required for these life-changing operations, cementing the mission’s long-term impact on Jamaican healthcare access.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – International medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym MSF) sounded an urgent alarm Monday, highlighting that devastating, unaddressed gaps continue to hobble containment efforts against a fast-moving Ebola outbreak that has already claimed more than 180 lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

While global and local response teams have expanded their operations substantially since the outbreak was formally declared in the vast Central African nation on May 15, MSF emphasized that the full magnitude of the public health crisis remains shrouded in uncertainty. A month into the official response, the spread of the virus is still outpacing intervention work, according to Kate White, MSF’s emergency medical coordinator for the DRC.

“No-one knows the true scale or exactly where the disease is spreading,” White stated in an official briefing. “What we do know is that most treatment centres in Ituri province are overwhelmed; many of our patients arrive at a late stage of the disease, and the majority were never identified or monitored as contacts before seeking care.”

Latest official data from the World Health Organization puts the current confirmed caseload at 782 infections and 181 deaths within the DRC, with an additional 19 cases and two fatalities recorded in neighboring Uganda. MSF cautioned that actual infection and death numbers are almost certainly far higher than the confirmed counts.

The current outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a variant for which there are no widely approved vaccines or targeted treatments. The epicenter of the outbreak is northeastern DRC’s Ituri province, with spillover cases also detected in the adjacent North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. Ebola, which spreads through close physical contact and exposure to infected bodily fluids, causes life-threatening hemorrhagic fever; public health investigators confirm the virus circulated undetected for several weeks in local communities before the outbreak was formally announced.

Persistent insecurity across affected regions has blocked access to many at-risk communities, MSF reported. Even in areas with relatively stable security conditions, core response work including case detection, patient testing, contact identification, and transmission monitoring remains inadequate, the organization added.

White pointed to diagnostic testing as one of the most crippling weaknesses in the current response. While laboratory capacity has been expanded in recent weeks and mobile testing kits specifically designed for the Bundibugyo strain have started arriving in eastern DRC, many remote communities still lack access to these critical tools. At the same time, overstretched testing infrastructure has led to substantial delays in returning results to treatment facilities, and North Kivu currently operates just a single laboratory capable of processing Ebola test samples.

“Without faster and more widely available testing, we will struggle to detect cases early enough to contain the outbreak,” White warned.

Over the past half century, Ebola outbreaks have killed more than 15,000 people across Africa. The DRC’s previous deadliest outbreak, recorded between 2018 and 2020, killed nearly 2,300 people among 3,500 confirmed cases. Infectious disease experts have repeatedly warned that without immediate, targeted action to close response gaps, the current outbreak could grow to match the scale of the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 11,000 people and infected more than 28,000 across the region.

As Jamaican schools prepare to close for the annual summer break, public health authorities in Westmoreland are sounding an urgent call to parents and caregivers to strengthen safeguards against childhood accidental poisoning, a persistent regional public health challenge that spikes when children spend more unsupervised time at home.

The appeal comes on the heels of troubling new data that places western Jamaica among the country’s hotspots for preventable childhood poisoning incidents. Gerald Miller, Health Promotion and Education Officer for the Westmoreland Health Department, confirmed that accidental poisoning remains a top priority public health concern for the region. Recent findings shared during a dedicated industry webinar revealed that Westmoreland logs the second-highest volume of childhood poisoning cases across Jamaica, trailing only neighboring St. James.

Further analysis from the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) underscores the scope of the risk: more than two-thirds, or 67.1 percent, of all accidental poisoning cases recorded across western Jamaica impact children between the ages of one and four, an age group defined by heightened curiosity and exploratory behavior. With summer break set to shift children’s daily routines from structured school environments to unsupervised time at home, Miller says proactive outreach and public education are critical to reversing worrying trends.

Miller explained that accidental poisoning occurs when an individual, most often a young child, unintentionally ingests, inhales, or absorbs a toxic substance through skin contact. In Jamaica, the most common hazards stem from everyday household items that many caregivers store incorrectly: common household bleaches and all-purpose cleaning products top the list, with these substances capable of causing severe internal poisoning or chemical burns if ingested or inhaled. Other high-risk items include kerosene, turpentine, prescription and over-the-counter medications, improperly stored industrial or gardening chemicals, and single-use detergent pods and tablets, which are often brightly colored and attractive to young children.

“Children between one and four are in an incredibly curious, oral phase of development,” Miller noted. “Anything bright, colorful, or easy to grab acts like a magnet for them. That’s why proper storage and consistent supervision are non-negotiable.” To that end, Miller is encouraging all households to adopt the public health campaign’s simple, actionable mantra: “high up and lock it up.”

Miller outlined a clear set of prevention guidelines for caregivers: all medications should be kept with child-resistant safety caps, toxic chemicals should never be transferred to unlabeled food or beverage containers, all hazardous products should remain in their original labeled packaging, and low-level cabinets holding dangerous substances should be fitted with childproof safety locks. For households with young children, consistent active supervision when children are playing in areas where hazardous products are stored remains the simplest way to prevent incidents.

To help caregivers respond quickly in the event of an emergency, Miller also shared common warning signs of accidental poisoning that require immediate medical attention: nausea, persistent vomiting, diarrhea, chemical burns around the mouth or on the hands, labored or difficult breathing, unexplained drowsiness, seizures, and sudden disorientation. In the event of a suspected poisoning, Miller urged caregivers to remain calm, avoid forcing the child to vomit, which can worsen internal damage from corrosive substances, and seek emergency medical care immediately.

“Accidental poisoning is 100 percent preventable,” Miller emphasized. “If you don’t lock it up and put it high out of reach, kids will find it. We’re asking every parent, caregiver, and community partner to take this simple step to protect our children.”

Members of the public seeking additional guidance or emergency support can reach the Caribbean Poison Information Network (CARPIN) 24/7 at their toll-free hotline: 1-888-764-7667.

Top insurance and public health leaders in Jamaica are sounding the alarm over a pervasive cultural trend of men avoiding routine preventive care, warning that the inaction carries severe personal, familial, and national economic consequences that will cost the country tens of billions of dollars in coming decades if left unaddressed.

Hugh Reid, managing director of JN Life Insurance and a longstanding men’s health advocate, argues that widespread neglect of regular check-ups and proactive health management is not just a personal health risk—it is a pressing public policy issue that ripples through the entire Jamaican economy. Reid connects low health engagement among men to widespread productivity losses, strained public healthcare infrastructure, and cascaling financial instability for households and the nation alike.

Chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) including hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol are already widespread across Jamaica, with public health data showing one in three Jamaicans lives with hypertension, one in eight has diabetes, and roughly one third of the population will develop a chronic illness over their lifetime. These conditions are primarily driven by modifiable lifestyle factors such as nutrient-poor diets, sedentary behavior, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption, alongside genetic and age-related risk factors. Ministry of Health and Wellness statistics show 31% of Jamaican men live with hypertension, 14% are obese, and 9% have a confirmed diabetes diagnosis. While these prevalence rates are slightly lower than those recorded among Jamaican women, men’s life expectancy is four years shorter on average, a gap public health experts attribute directly to far lower engagement with preventive care services.

“These chronic illnesses don’t just put unnecessary strain on our national healthcare system—they can erase decades of hard-earned life savings overnight,” Reid explained. “Too many men fail to recognize that every health choice they make impacts not just their own well-being, but the long-term financial security of their families and the entire country.”

Reid pointed to longstanding data confirming the trend of delayed care-seeking among Jamaican men. Research from The University of the West Indies shows that 68% of men over the age of 55 had not visited a healthcare provider for a routine check-up in the 12 months prior to the study. Over the same period, 17% of those men were admitted to hospital for preventable conditions, and less than 36% had completed a recommended prostate cancer screening. He also referenced widespread media coverage of preventable hospitalizations for lifestyle-related NCD complications and injury accidents tied to alcohol-impaired driving as further evidence of the crisis, noting that without widespread cultural and behavioral change, the future economic outlook remains grim.

Reid projected that over the next 15 years, NCDs linked to poor preventive care could cut Jamaica’s workforce productivity by as much as JMD 47 billion, while direct medical costs from cardiovascular disease and diabetes alone could top JMD 29.8 billion. “That is a burden our country simply cannot afford to bear,” he emphasized.

Compounding the health crisis is a critical gap in financial preparedness, Reid added: Jamaican men are far less likely to hold life insurance or critical illness coverage than women. At JN Life Insurance, for example, female clients outnumber male clients two to one, a disparity that puts households at extreme risk when the primary breadwinner falls ill or passes away prematurely. “Life insurance is more than just a financial product—it is a safety net that protects families from devastating financial collapse when tragedy strikes,” Reid said.

Backing Reid’s call for urgent action, respected Jamaican physician Dr. Earl Brewster echoed the message that routine preventive screenings are the most effective tool for early detection and successful management of NCDs before they become life-threatening or disabling. “Men need to shift away from the harmful mindset that only seeks care when you are seriously ill, and adopt consistent, proactive health-seeking behaviors,” Dr. Brewster said.

Currently, Jamaican men have a life expectancy of 72 years, compared to 76 years for women. Health risks for men rise sharply once they reach their 40s, and again in their 60s, but small, consistent changes can drive major improvements in long-term outcomes. “Simple steps like maintaining a healthy body weight, staying physically active, and completing an annual preventive check-up can make a meaningful difference in long-term health outcomes,” Dr. Brewster noted.

Dr. Brewster recommends that all adult men complete comprehensive annual health assessments, including cardiovascular screening, blood glucose testing, liver and kidney function panels, thyroid testing, vitamin level checks, and PSA screening for prostate cancer. For men over 50, he additionally advises a colonoscopy every 10 years to screen for colorectal cancer. “These screenings are widely available across Jamaica, and most are covered by existing health insurance plans,” he explained. “Early detection makes all the difference for successful treatment, especially for men already living with chronic conditions like hypertension or diabetes.”

Still, Dr. Brewster acknowledged that deep-rooted cultural attitudes remain one of the biggest barriers to increasing preventive care engagement among men. “There’s an old cultural saying around here that you only see a man at a doctor’s office if he’s already extremely sick, or someone had to carry him there,” he said. “We need to shift that outdated mindset. Men must take responsibility for their own health—not just for their own sake, but for their families and the future of our nation.”

Less than one month after unveiling the initiative during his parliamentary Sectoral Debate Presentation, Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton kicked off his ambitious, community-centered CARE Agenda last week, opening with targeted programming for the nation’s fast-expanding older adult population.

The launch of the agenda’s first component took place at the Chinese Benevolent Association Centre on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, where Tufton presided over the inaugural Training of Trainers workshop focused on home-based geriatric care for older adults.

The CARE Agenda, short for Community Arranged Response Efforts, is a sweeping public health framework designed to strengthen grassroots healthcare across Jamaica and boost quality of life for all residents. Beyond specialized training for elderly home care – a cornerstone of the initiative’s healthy aging priority – the agenda includes a diverse slate of additional programs spanning social media literacy for children, community support networks for individuals navigating menopause and andropause, specialized lifestyle clinics, public education on fertility and responsible parenting, targeted interventions to address period poverty and improve adolescent health, expanded fitness opportunities through the existing Jamaica Moves initiative, community-centered mental health support, and expanded substance abuse outreach and care.

At the core of the entire agenda is a shift toward community-rooted care models that meet populations where they are, rather than relying solely on facility-based treatment. Speaking at the workshop launch, Tufton emphasized that healthy aging extends far beyond just treating acute and chronic illness.

“It is about ensuring that older Jamaicans remain active, independent and connected to their families and communities for as long as possible,” he explained.

Tufton drew particular attention to the underrecognized, critical work of unpaid family and community caregivers, who shoulder the vast majority of long-term care responsibilities for older Jamaicans. Like many nations around the globe, Jamaica’s informal care network provides most support for the country’s aging population, a demographic that is growing faster than any other age segment.

“International estimates suggest that almost 75 per cent of long-term care is provided by family members and community caregivers, quietly and selflessly supporting their loved ones every day. With an estimate of 100,000 to 150,000, these caregivers do far more than assist with medical needs. They prepare meals, purchase food and medication, provide transportation to clinics, help with bathing, dressing, feeding and mobility, manage appointments, and offer the emotional support and companionship that protects [overall well-being],” Tufton said, praising the uncompensated work these individuals contribute to the nation’s health system.

Currently, Jamaica counts roughly 375,000 residents aged 60 and older, a number projected to climb to 400,000 by 2030. Tufton framed this rapid growth as both a milestone of improved public health outcomes and increased life expectancy, and a pressing call to reimagine how the country supports its aging population.

Repeating his core framing of the initiative, Tufton noted: “Healthy ageing is about much more than treating disease. It is about enabling older people to remain active, independent, and connected to their families and communities for as long as possible. It is also about recognising that quality care begins long before someone enters a hospital or clinic. That is why the Ministry of Health & Wellness is advancing a community-based model of geriatric care that brings services closer to the people who need them most. Our approach is built on a simple principle: strong families and strong communities create healthier older adults.”

To deliver on this vision, the Ministry has laid out six core strategic priorities for the healthy aging component of the CARE Agenda. First, the ministry will launch pilot specialized geriatric clinics in the parishes of St Ann and St Catherine, designed to deliver comprehensive health assessments and targeted specialized care for older adults. Second, it will expand home-based care services through structured, regular home visits led by community health aides and overseen by public health nursing teams.

Third, the initiative includes ongoing training for both professional healthcare workers and informal caregivers to help them identify early warning signs of acute illness, age-related functional decline, caregiver burnout, and social isolation – all common issues that can harm the health of older adults. Fourth, the ministry will strengthen cross-sector partnerships with the Ministry of Labour & Social Security, the National Council for Senior Citizens, local government authorities, faith-based organizations, and local community groups to build a fully integrated, coordinated support network for aging Jamaicans.

Fifth, the agenda prioritizes “ageing in place,” a model that empowers older Jamaicans to continue living safely, independently, and with dignity in their own homes and local communities for as long as they are able. Finally, the initiative will fund local community action through the dedicated CARE Fund, which works to strengthen family support systems, encourage widespread adoption of healthier lifestyles, and expand support infrastructure for vulnerable populations across the country.

“As we prepare for the future, our success will not be measured only by the number of clinics we build or the programmes we launch, but by whether our older citizens are able to age with dignity, independence, and the support of families and communities that care,” Tufton concluded.